SummaryThe labour, delivery and state of the newborn were compared retrospectively in a group of women who had labour induced and a group who started labour spontaneously. There were 200 women at term in each group, individually matched for age, parity and social class and with no medical or obstetric complications prior to labour. The induced group showed a higher incidence of epidural anaesthesia, fetal monitoring and operative delivery. Sixty had forceps deliveries and five had Caesarean sections compared with two forceps deliveries and no Caesarean sections in the ‘spontaneous onset’ group. The higher incidence of operative deliveries in the induced group was not fully explained by the excess of epidurals and fetal monitoring received. More of the babies born after an induced labour had endotracheal intubation during resuscitation.